98% of us engage with the arts and 45% of us create art, yet the majority of Australian visual artists and arts workers remain deeply concerned by income security, cuts to arts education, program cancellations and reduced sales due to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. All Australians would benefit immensely from ambitious visual arts and culture…

Sophia Cai is a curator and arts writer based in Melbourne, Australia. In this podcast, NAVA's Leya Reid talks to Sophia Cai about community-based practice, cultural safety, creative nourishment, and the importance of joy in our work.By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

Arts Day on the Hill is Australia’s annual focus on building sector capacity for sustained government engagement and lasting policy reform. This year’s Arts Day on the Hill took place on Wednesday 12 August 2020. In this podcast, NAVA’s Esther Anatolitis is joined by artists Nadia Odlum and Sha Sarwari in reviewing our experiences and next steps, w…

Rohin Kickett is a NAVA Board Member and Nyoongar artist from the Balardong region Western Australia. In this podcast, NAVA’s Esther Anatolitis talks to Rohin Kickett about his personal leadership journey, community development models for Art Centres and key issues around Indigenous art production.By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

Santilla Chingaipe is a journalist, filmmaker and author whose work explores migration, cultural identities and politics. In this podcast, NAVA's Tanushri Saha talks to Chingaipe about interrogating whiteness and centring blackness in the arts.By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

This episode bridges the cross-generational experiences of Helen Grace, on behalf of the historical Artsworkers Union, and Dylan Batty, a co-founder of the Australian Arts Workers Alliance. NAVA’s Professional Practice Coordinator, Justine Youssef, speaks with the pair about the cyclical issues and widespread instability facing arts workers, the am…

Emele Ugavule is a Tokelauan Fijian storyteller. Her research and practice area of interest is Oceanic Indigenous-led storytelling, working across live performance, film, tv & digital media as a writer, director, creative producer, performer, educator and mentor. Her work explores creative processes and outcomes grounded in Indigenous ways of knowi…

In this podcast, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with Toby Dennett from the Arts Council of Ireland about their 'Paying the Artist' policy released earlier this year.By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

Following the culmination of the 42nd Sydney Mardi Gras Parade, we opened a conversation about the role of art in worldbuilding and community mobilisation with four 78ers on Wednesday 11 March at I.C.E., Parramatta NSW.Facilitated by artists Enoch Mailangi and Justine Youssef in conversation with artist activists Ray Delaney, Dj Gemma, Alissar Chid…

By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

Mandy Quadrio is a contemporary artist and doctoral candidate at Queensland College of the Arts with the Griffith University. Her multidisciplinary practice is intertwined with her proud Palawa identity in her ancestral country of Tebrakunna, Coastal Plains Nation on the lands colonially referred to as North-East of Tasmania.In this podcast, Mandy …

"The artist doesn't have to be starving. It should not be starving. It is not the way that it should be. You should be able to be an artist and sustain yourself." In this episode, NAVA's Executive Director, Esther Anatolitis, is in conversation with Renuka Bauri, Director of Communications and Advocacy for Canadian Artists Representation / Front de…

In this podcast, Eme, artist and member of the Anticolonial Asian Alliance, is in conversation with Soo-Min Shim from NAVA's Membership and Communications team. Eme is an interdisciplinary Filipinx artist based in Sydney - Gadigal land. Identity and personal experience are the driving force to their art practice where ideas are transformed into obj…

In this podcast, Latai Taumoepeau speaks with NAVA’s Professional Development Coordinator, Justine Youssef, about her practice relative to climate justice and the environmental, ethical and political effects of climate change in the Pacific region. Further to this Latai, shares ideas on how the art sector can transform the conversation around clima…

Recorded live at the launch of Arts Day on the Hill and the inauguration of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Contemporary Arts and Culture, Co-Chaired by John Alexander, Maria Vamvakinou, and Adam Bandt. Hosted by Esther Anatolitis, we also heard from guest speakers including the Minister and Shadow Minister for the Arts and Welcome to Countr…

“I think we'll see organisations essentially deciding which artists get supported as opposed to artists applying directly to a funding body… There's independence at stake: the idea that artists can maintain independent practices where they instigate projects that may or may not operate within an institutional context...” This podcast looks at Conni…

Genevieve Grieves in conversation with NAVA's Wesley Shaw and Georgia Mokak about her current role teaching students about decolonisation at the Art Gallery NSW as part of their annual Djamu Indigenous Art program, as well as her role as Head of the newly formed First Peoples Department at Museums Victoria, and developing a practice and knowledge a…

Esther Anatolitis in conversation with artists Abdul Abdullah, Çigdem Aydemir and Harriet Body presented in partnership with Parramatta Artist Studios as part of Movers and Makers 2019.By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

What would an artist run world look like? Imagine if artistic courage was a guiding force in the policy arena. What sort of cities could we build? What sort of housing, health, schooling, agriculture, transport or data governance could we put in place? In the lead up to the federal election, 7 artists and critical thinkers joined us for a feisty co…

Keynote recorded live at Australian Cultural Policy: The Next Decade, presented by Monash University’s Masters of Cultural & Creative Industries and NAVA at the State Library of Victoria on 8 April 2019.“We need a national cultural policy that’s grounded in First Nations sovereignty and the NAVA Code of Practice... Cuts to the arts affect the Austr…

NAVA's Esther Anatolitis in conversation with Girramay/Kuku Yalanji artist, Tony Albert and Noonuccal Nuugi playwright and theatrical director, Wesley Enoch discussing the role of artistic courage amidst our nation's current state of political confusion.By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

Artist Adrian Villar Rojas sits down with Coby Edgar to discuss the research methodologies informing his exploration of Australia as a potential site for future works. The conversation covers Adrian's practice, narratives of colonial violence and the tenuous relationship between audience, artist and curator played out in cultural institutions.…

NAVA's Penelope Benton in conversation with Chinese-Australian artist Amy Suo Wu and artist, curator and founder of Feminist South, Kelly Doley.Feminist South is a curatorial project and research platform spanning across 2017-2019 that aims to generate discussion on contemporary feminist practice located in and around Asia, Australia and the Pacifi…

‘As artists we have to keep questioning and being really honest about what’s going on’ Karla Dickens, 2019.Artist Karla Dickens sits down with Penelope Benton to discuss her most recent work in the new Artspace exhibition; ‘Just not Australian’. The conversation covers Karla’s practice and approach to making work, her Copyright Agency fellowship, a…

Ku Arts? is the South Australian support organisation for Aboriginal artists and art centres, and recently hosted a professional development symposium and workshop in Port Augusta.Penelope sat down for a conversation with Alison (Milyika) Carroll, an artist and the chair of Ernabella Arts? (APY Lands), David Miller an artist and chair of Ku Arts an…

‘Both the ‘Community and Cultural Development’ (CACD) and the ‘Emerging and Experimental Arts’(EEA) sector are the vanguards of the exploration of new genres of artistic practice and artistic practice and I think it’s a really exciting part of the Australian arts ecology as we move into the future’ -Jeremy SmithIn the midst of travelling around rem…

'Any conversation becomes easier when there is a starting point of universal and collective understanding' Joe TooheyJoe Toohey is the Executive Director of Regional Arts Victoria and he sat down with Esther Anatolitis in Melbourne to discuss Artlands 2018.Artlands is the national biennial event for regional arts in Australia, and was held this yea…

For this episode, Penelope Benton chats with Meagan Shand, CEO of Arts Access Australia about this year's 'Meeting Place' forum held in Alice Springs.Arts Access Australia is the national peak body for arts and disability in Australia. They work to increase national and international opportunities and access to the arts for people with disability a…

Curator and writer, Jeff Khan joins Penelope Benton in conversation about Performance Contemporary as part of Sydney Contemporary Art Fair and Liveworks 2018, Performance Space's annual festival.By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

Esther speaks with Tess Maunder ahead of the launch of her new publication, Absolute Humidity.Absolute Humidity is a volume that aims to re-position conversations about the climate, weather and the environment by placing artist’s voices at the centre of the discussion. The publication focuses on contemporary artists from the Asia-Pacific region, in…

In Cairns for the annual Indigenous Art Fair, Esther speaks with Artistic Director Janina Harding about this year's program. Curator and artist Bianca Beetson discusses her recent exhibition at NERAM gallery, and her son Aidan Finn about his study of contemporary Australian Indigenous art at Griffith University.Finally, Esther speaks to artist Lali…

Soda_Jerk? sits down with Esther Anatolitis in the NAVA office to talk about their most recent and controversial work, 'Terror Nullius, a political revenge fable in three acts'. The artists discuss their approach to making work as a seizing and hacking of culture as an act of political resistance and solidarity.Formed in Sydney in 2002, Soda_Jerk i…

In the window of the Australia Council building in Sydney, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with Gosia Wlodarczak, during her drawing residency. They discuss Gosia's approach to drawing as looking and focus, what that means, and how she built her art practice in Poland and Australia over the years.…

Artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah in conversation with Esther Anatolitis about his most recent work in 'Enough ???? Khalas' exhibition at UNSW Galleries, and the development of his practice as a professional artist in Australia.By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

For this episode, artist Chris Fox is in conversation with Esther Anatolitis and Penelope Benton around public art, and his most recent public artwork at Wynyard Station, 'Interloop'.The conversation discusses the value and role of art in the public space, and the challenges inherent in public art policy and delivery - through competing stakeholder…

For this episode, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with artist Sarah Goffman.Sarah describes her work as an obsession and compulsion, and her role as 'trash converter' as she reframes plastics and everyday consumer products and packaging into beautiful objects through the critical lens of waste and excess consumption.For more information about …

Esther Anatolitis in conversation with Elvis Richardson, the curator of 2018 Adelaide Biennial. They discuss the exhibition, artists and the arts in South Australia.By National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

For this episode, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with artist and activist, Elvis Richardson. Founder of the Countess Report, Elvis has been exposing gender inequity in the arts since the blog launched in 2008, and subsequent 'counts' of gender imbalance in gallery and museum representation, media and opportunities. Elvis lives and works in Me…

'the five fundamental elements of the universe is sitting in reciprocal relationship, so no one is stronger than the other, that one either kill or killed by others, and that's the how the whole universe keep changing and keeping that good balance with everything' Mami Kataoka.For this episode, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with Mami Kataoka…

For this episode we are at MAAS, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences speaking about the upcoming Sydney Design Festival. Running from the 2nd to the 11th of March the festival hosts over 100 exhibitions, events, workshops and talks, both in the museum and through the public program partners in and around Sydney, including industry, universities…

For this episode we are speaking with Dr. Pippa Dickson. Pippa is the chair of Design Tasmania and an advocate for design, art and creativity in Australia. We speak to Pippa about the changing climate of design in Tasmania and Australia, and some of the key issues facing the sector in 2018. We discuss multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary creat…

For this episode we are at Girrawaa Arts Centre at Bathurst Correctional Facility. The arts centre is an initiative for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inmates to connect with culture, develop their art practice and sell their work. We speak with centre manager Bryan Reiri about the role and value of art in corrective services and one of the …

'If we want change, we gotta make it ... we need to participate', Richard Bell.For this episode, artist and activist Richard Bell is in conversation with Esther Anatolitis about politics, social change, the role of art and the responsibility of artists. Richard is involved in the current Artspace instagram project, #52artists52actions, featuring an…

?For this episode we speak with Susie Rugg, the Kids & Families Coordinator at the Museum of Contemporary art about the major summer exhibition, Pipilotti Rist: Sip my Ocean.Pipilotti's work is immersive, engaging and accessible and has been particularly successful in attracting and engaging children and families. The museum hosted a children's onl…

In this episode of NAVA: in conversation with are in Hobart for the inaugural Hobiennale 17. We speak with the two directors of the festival, Grace Herbert and Liam James as well as producer Alex Hullah, about why they developed the festival and about the role of artist-run spaces in Australia. Hobiennale went for 10 days in November, with 18 ARI's…

For this episode we speak with Australian Design Centre about the state of the craft and design sector in Australia, and particularly the inaugural Sydney Craft Week that took place in October this year. We speak with ADC’s CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill and Creative Strategy Associate, Penny Craswell about the Design Centre's program of exh…

For this episode, we discuss the Fake Art Harms Culture campaign. The Fake Art campaign is being run by Arts Law, the Indigenous Art Code and Copyright Agency, to introduce policy to protect Indigenous artists against Fake Art being made and sold in Australia. We speak with Gabrielle O'Sullivan, BiBi Barber and Judy Grady about why this campaign is…

This week we speak with Georgie Meagher, the CEO and Artistic Director of Next Wave Festival, a biennial arts festival based in Melbourne.Georgie chats with us about what good leadership means, the role of directors in organisations and the responsibility of curators to artists. We get an insight into the plans and challenges for Next Wave’s experi…

For this episode we speak with Rabbaya Nasser & Hurman Ul Ain, two artists from Pakistan who are in Sydney presenting a live performance work as part of the Public Body .02 exhibition at Artspace. Rabbaya & Hurmat are performance artists who have collaborated for several years, and work as artists, curators and educators in Pakistan and internation…